Sioux Falls aims to leave less to waste

Rising expectations in recycling reach for 25% by 2017

Mar. 6, 2013

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Javier Lopez sorts through recycled materials Tuesday at Millennium Recycling in Sioux Falls. The city's trash haulers this year will be expected to recycle 21.4 percent of what they collect. Last year's rate was 20 percent. / Jay Pickthorn / Argus Leader

* No longer doing business in Sioux FallsSource: Sioux Falls Public Works

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Trash haulers in Sioux Falls will be expected to recycle 21.4 percent of the waste they collect this year.

Bob Kappel, the city’s environmental manager, announced this year’s rate at a news conference Tuesday. Last year’s rate was 20 percent.

A year-old ordinance requires haulers that deliver waste to the regional landfill to meet recycling goals that will rise to 25 percent by 2017. The idea is to extend the life of the landfill, which accepts waste from a five-county area. The recycling targets are part of a broader sustainability plan.

“We can beat this goal before 2017,” Public Works Director Mark Cotter said. “The haulers have made great strides this year.”

Twenty-three of the city’s 27 haulers increased their recycling rates last year, Kappel said. Heartland Disposal Services, which recycled one-third of the waste it collected from roughly 1,000 customers last year, was recognized as the city’s top performer.

“(Recycling) is the main thing in our business,” said Ryan Jaacks at Heartland.

Because Heartland recycled more than 30 percent of its waste — exceeding the target by more than half — the company will get a tipping fee rebate of $1 per ton. Mayor Mike Huether on Tuesday presented Jaacks with a check for $714.60.

On the bottom end, the ordinance requires haulers to recycle 80 percent of the annual target rate or face penalties. In 2012, for example, the goal was 20 percent, so the penalty cutoff was 16 percent. This year the cutoff is 17 percent.

Surchage for missing

Five haulers did not meet last year’s goal — Dan’s Garbage Service, R&S Sanitation, Addy Disposal, Harrisburg Sanitary Service and Dakota Disposal — so they will be assessed a $1 per ton surcharge on tipping fees at the regional landfill.

If they miss the target again this year, they’ll have to pay an extra $2 per ton and hire an engineer to develop a remediation plan.

Kappel said additional fees for these companies will range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. He declined, however, to release data on how much trash and recyclable material each hauler delivers annually, saying the industry considers the information proprietary, so the city keeps it confidential.

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Harrisburg Sanitary Service no longer is in business, and the city of Madison didn’t renew its license this year. That brings down the number of licensed haulers in Sioux Falls to 25.

“We couldn’t continually make the goal that Sioux Falls had, and it was just more effective for us to go to Brookings,” Madison Public Works Director Fred Snoderly said.

Single stream

As of Jan. 1, haulers are required to collect the recycling in a single stream, as opposed to source-separated.

Advanced Recycling Systems in Sioux Falls, once a source-separated plant, switched over to single-stream in August. Owner Laurie Cressman said the change was a huge expense in equipment and labor, but that her business is committed to helping the city achieve its recycling goals.

“We want to do what we need to do to be in compliance with the city mandates,” she said.

Thirteen of the city’s licensed haulers drop their recycling at Millennium Recycling; all but three of these met the 20 percent goal.

The plant processed almost 50,000 tons of material in 2012, and last year Millennium received an $860,000 state loan to add a new tipping floor and more equipment, spokesman Shaun Feilmeier said. In April, the plant will begin accepting milk and juice cartons.

The city of Sioux Falls does not track its own recycling rates, Kappel said.